Russia issued bilateral state loans in the amount of 81.6 billion rubles in March. , which is close to the monthly high in nominal terms. And although, traditionally for the Russian Federation, the recipients of loans are not disclosed, most likely, they were received by Iran and Belarus, writes RosSMI.

The fact that the Ministry of Finance of Russia issued a state loan in March 2022 follows from the published data of the Federal Treasury. For comparison: in January-February, such loans were issued in the amount of 28.5 billion rubles. , and in March last year - only by 26.2 billion rubles.

Based on the average exchange rate of the dollar against the ruble for March, we are talking about an amount equivalent to approximately $790 million. In ruble terms, the indicator of loans issued in March is comparable to the record of December 2021 (82.1 billion rubles.

Experts call Iran or Belarus the most likely applicants for receiving state loans in March.

In particular, in January 2022, the Iranian government reported that Tehran was considering how to use a $5 billion credit line from Russia..

Experts believe that Russia issues loans either to friendly countries, such as Belarus, or to those with which it implements investment or military-strategic contracts..

“In Iran, we are building nuclear power plants [the second and third units of the Bushehr nuclear power plant], and it is quite possible that the new loan was issued for the purchase of relevant equipment. Therefore, the circle of potential borrowers is narrowing down to Belarus, Iran, some African countries, Venezuela,” Klimanov said..

Based on this logic, the loan could well have been issued in rubles so that the recipients could spend it on paying for the supply of Russian products, the expert says..

In addition, according to the World Bank at the end of 2020, the largest debtors of Russia on bilateral state loans were Belarus ($8.3 billion), Bangladesh ($3.3 billion), Venezuela ($3.1 billion), India ($3 billion). Bilateral debts to Russia of sub-sanctioned Syria amount to $525 million.

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Earlier it was reported that the head of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, Elvira Nabiullina, announced significant economic problems in the Russian Federation in the second or third quarter of this year..